diff --git a/packages/prerender/src/graphql/node-runner.ts b/packages/prerender/src/graphql/node-runner.ts
index 91aed90a1f..74c2aa2e3e 100644
--- a/packages/prerender/src/graphql/node-runner.ts
+++ b/packages/prerender/src/graphql/node-runner.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
+import path from 'node:path'
+
 import { createServer, isRunnableDevEnvironment, mergeConfig } from 'vite'
-import type { ViteDevServer, RunnableDevEnvironment, UserConfig } from 'vite'
+import type {
+  Plugin,
+  ViteDevServer,
+  RunnableDevEnvironment,
+  UserConfig,
+} from 'vite'
 
 import { getPaths } from '@cedarjs/project-config'
 import {
@@ -7,13 +14,215 @@ import {
   cedarjsResolveCedarStyleImportsPlugin,
   cedarjsJobPathInjectorPlugin,
   cedarSwapApolloProvider,
-  cedarCjsCompatPlugin,
 } from '@cedarjs/vite'
 
 import { cedarAutoImportsPlugin } from './vite-plugin-cedar-auto-import.js'
 import { cedarImportDirPlugin } from './vite-plugin-cedar-import-dir.js'
 
+// Initialize cjs-module-lexer eagerly at module load so it's available before
+// any Vite transforms run. buildStart is not guaranteed to fire for all Vite
+// environments (e.g. nodeRunnerEnv), so we can't rely on it for initialization.
+let lexerParse: ((code: string) => { exports: string[] }) | null = null
+const lexerReady: Promise<void> = import('cjs-module-lexer')
+  .then(({ init, parse }) =>
+    init().then(() => {
+      lexerParse = parse
+    }),
+  )
+  .catch(() => {
+    // Fall back to extractCjsNamedExports only if cjs-module-lexer is unavailable
+  })
+
+/**
+ * Extracts named exports from CommonJS code without relying on cjs-module-lexer,
+ * which fails to detect exports when values are function expressions or other
+ * non-trivial expressions (e.g. `module.exports = { handler: function() {} }`).
+ *
+ * Handles two CJS export patterns:
+ * - `exports.key = value` — regex
+ * - `module.exports = { key: value, ... }` — brace-counting to find top-level keys
+ */
+function extractCjsNamedExports(code: string): string[] {
+  const identifierRe = /^[a-zA-Z_$][a-zA-Z0-9_$]*$/
+  const namedExports = new Set<string>()
+
+  // Pattern 1: exports.key = value
+  const exportsAssignRe = /\bexports\.([a-zA-Z_$][a-zA-Z0-9_$]*)\s*=/g
+  for (const match of code.matchAll(exportsAssignRe)) {
+    if (match[1] !== 'default') {
+      namedExports.add(match[1])
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Pattern 2: module.exports = { key: value, ... }
+  // Brace-counting scan to capture only top-level property keys, correctly
+  // skipping over nested objects, function bodies, strings, and comments.
+  const assignMatch = code.match(/module\.exports\s*=\s*\{/)
+  if (assignMatch?.index !== undefined) {
+    const bodyStart = assignMatch.index + assignMatch[0].length
+    let depth = 1
+    let pos = bodyStart
+
+    while (pos < code.length && depth > 0) {
+      const ch = code[pos]
+
+      // Skip strings (single, double, template)
+      if (ch === '"' || ch === "'" || ch === '`') {
+        const quote = ch
+        pos++
+        while (pos < code.length && code[pos] !== quote) {
+          if (code[pos] === '\\') {
+            pos++
+          }
+          pos++
+        }
+        pos++
+        continue
+      }
+
+      // Skip line comments
+      if (ch === '/' && code[pos + 1] === '/') {
+        while (pos < code.length && code[pos] !== '\n') {
+          pos++
+        }
+        continue
+      }
+
+      // Skip block comments
+      if (ch === '/' && code[pos + 1] === '*') {
+        pos += 2
+        while (
+          pos < code.length &&
+          !(code[pos] === '*' && code[pos + 1] === '/')
+        ) {
+          pos++
+        }
+        pos += 2
+        continue
+      }
+
+      if (ch === '{' || ch === '(' || ch === '[') {
+        depth++
+        pos++
+        continue
+      }
+
+      if (ch === '}' || ch === ')' || ch === ']') {
+        depth--
+        pos++
+        continue
+      }
+
+      // At depth 1 (top level of the object literal), look for `identifier:` patterns
+      if (depth === 1 && /[a-zA-Z_$]/.test(ch)) {
+        const keyMatch = code
+          .slice(pos)
+          .match(/^([a-zA-Z_$][a-zA-Z0-9_$]*)\s*:/)
+        if (
+          keyMatch &&
+          keyMatch[1] !== 'default' &&
+          identifierRe.test(keyMatch[1])
+        ) {
+          namedExports.add(keyMatch[1])
+          pos += keyMatch[0].length
+          continue
+        }
+      }
+
+      pos++
+    }
+  }
+
+  return [...namedExports]
+}
+
+/**
+ * A Vite plugin that transforms CommonJS files to ESM so they work with
+ * Vite 6's RunnableDevEnvironment / ESModulesEvaluator, which doesn't
+ * understand `module.exports` syntax.
+ *
+ * Uses two complementary strategies for named export detection:
+ * 1. `cjs-module-lexer` (initialized at module load via `lexerReady`) — handles
+ *    esbuild-compiled packages using the `__export` + `0 && (module.exports = {...})`
+ *    annotation pattern.
+ * 2. `extractCjsNamedExports` — handles hand-written CJS with function values
+ *    that cjs-module-lexer cannot statically detect.
+ *
+ * The transform hook is intentionally synchronous: Vite 6's non-default
+ * environments (e.g. nodeRunnerEnv) do not reliably call async transform hooks
+ * or buildStart, so the lexer must be initialized at module load time instead.
+ */
+function cjsCompatPlugin(): Plugin {
+  return {
+    name: 'cedar-cjs-compat',
+    enforce: 'pre',
+
+    transform(code, id) {
+      // Only handle plain .js / .cjs files — TypeScript and JSX are already
+      // transformed by Vite's esbuild plugin and will be valid ESM.
+      if (!/\.[cm]?js$/.test(id)) {
+        return null
+      }
+
+      // Quick heuristic: skip files that don't look like CJS
+      if (!/\bmodule\.exports\b|\bexports\.\w+/.test(code)) {
+        return null
+      }
+
+      // Combine both strategies: cjs-module-lexer handles esbuild-compiled
+      // packages; extractCjsNamedExports handles hand-written modules with
+      // function values that cjs-module-lexer cannot statically detect.
+      const namedExports = new Set(extractCjsNamedExports(code))
+      if (lexerParse) {
+        try {
+          const { exports } = lexerParse(code)
+          for (const e of exports) {
+            if (/^[a-zA-Z_$][a-zA-Z0-9_$]*$/.test(e) && e !== 'default') {
+              namedExports.add(e)
+            }
+          }
+        } catch {
+          // Ignore — extractCjsNamedExports result is still used
+        }
+      }
+
+      const dirPath = JSON.stringify(path.dirname(id))
+      const filePath = JSON.stringify(id)
+
+      const namedExportLines = [...namedExports]
+        .map(
+          (name) =>
+            `export const ${name} = __cjs_result__[${JSON.stringify(name)}]`,
+        )
+        .join('\n')
+
+      return {
+        code: `
+import { createRequire as __createRequire__ } from 'node:module'
+const require = __createRequire__(${filePath})
+const module = { exports: {} }
+const exports = module.exports
+const __dirname = ${dirPath}
+const __filename = ${filePath}
+;(function() {
+${code}
+}).call(module.exports)
+const __cjs_result__ = module.exports
+export default __cjs_result__
+${namedExportLines}
+`,
+        map: null,
+      }
+    },
+  }
+}
+
 async function createViteServer(customConfig: UserConfig = {}) {
+  // Ensure cjs-module-lexer is initialized before any file transforms run.
+  // We can't rely on buildStart for this because it isn't guaranteed to fire
+  // for non-default Vite environments (e.g. nodeRunnerEnv).
+  await lexerReady
+
   const defaultConfig: UserConfig = {
     mode: 'production',
     optimizeDeps: {
@@ -36,7 +245,7 @@ async function createViteServer(customConfig: UserConfig = {}) {
       ],
     },
     plugins: [
-      cedarCjsCompatPlugin(),
+      cjsCompatPlugin(),
       cedarImportDirPlugin(),
       cedarAutoImportsPlugin(),
       cedarjsResolveCedarStyleImportsPlugin(),